Like a Fox
by OverlyExcitedUnicorn
Summary: Thirteen years ago, a flash stood in front of a great fox. Thirteen years ago, a council condemned death upon a young fox. Thirteen years ago, a toad ran away with the young fox. Thirteen years ago, a story began. NaruIno later.
1. Prologue: Beginnings

**A/N:** **Hi fanfic community, this is my first story! Please R&R! Enjoy the story!**

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"SHOUTING"

**Prologue – Beginnings**

Appearances – like many things – can be deceptive.

They looked like a tramp, a bodybuilder, a diplomat, and a fisherman, sitting at a long polished table. Crystal tumblers of iced water at one end, and a small bowl of peppermints at the other. Two empty seats remained at the far end of a rather claustrophobia-inducing room, and a deafening silence happened upon the odd assembly. A silence which was arguably short-lived, "WHERE IN THE FIVE GREAT VILLAGES HAVE THOSE IMBECILES GOTTEN TO?"

* * *

><p>The first drops of rain fell from the sky at alarming speed. Twisting and flexing, the droplet approached the forest floor with a vengeance, among its comrades, anticipating its eventual and yet mutual end as a puddle. This could only be recognised as fate, or perhaps destiny even, as unchanging and everlasting as the sun. And yet - even then - as the sun is in fact, not everlasting, perhaps fate is equally not unchanging, even for one little droplet.<p>

"Gah! Come on old man, can we pick up the pace? It's starting to rain!" Unruly blond hair pervaded his eyesight as Jiraiya leapt onto the next branch. "Oh quit it you. I've got to work hard to keep these old bones in top form these days. How else am I going to get all the ladies?"

On the move, Naruto looked almost at home. A simple black tanto strapped horizontally across his lower back. A repurposed tan ANBU vest adorning his torso, covering a tight, sleeveless black shirt. Form-fitting black pants with pale bandages strapped around his right thigh covered the lower half of his body and black arm-warmers extended to his fists, fingerless and metal-plated. All topped off by untamed spiky hair and a wry grin sitting just below electric blue eyes. And don't forget whiskers. They're the most important feature of all.

Whipping through the great forests of Hi no Kuni, the pair were like shadows, silent, overlooked, and for the most part, unnoticed. Unnoticed, but for the eyes of a particular individual - the eyes of a snake.

Hissing animatedly, the serpent lifted itself upright off the forest floor, "Thisss isss not good newsss at all; Master must be informed…"

* * *

><p>"Villages are born of the uniting of different people with shared principles or goals. To protect these objectives, people will go to incredible lengths." Jiraiya mentioned conversationally. He hadn't been here since the incident thirteen years ago, and a tidal wave of nostalgia which, until recently had been held back by a dam as great as the walls of Konoha, was suddenly, though perhaps, not without warning, obliterated.<p>

"I didn't think there were going to be so many people here!" said a rather surprised Naruto. He had only been here once before, when Jiraiya had an audience with the Hokage, but he never remembered Konoha with so many people rushing about.

"Ah well, the Chūnin Exams are quite a popular event in the Elemental Nations, and this is evidence of that." Replied Jiraiya. 'Though this does mean there is a greater chance of somebody recognizing him…' He was brought out of his thoughts by an overly excited Naruto gesturing animatedly at a small stand hidden behind a small antiques store.

"I haven't had ramen in ages! Let's go!"

"We had it two days ago…"

"AGES!"

* * *

><p>"That was absolutely delicious. And decidedly fulfilling!" Grinned a satisfied Naruto, "Thanks for paying again old man! And thanks for the ramen, uhhh…" A young girl sat up with a start, "Oh! It's Ayame. But you should really be thanking my dad, Teuchi. He's the one who made it." She said with a bright smile. "Give him my many thanks then, Ayame. And you shouldn't be so modest either," Naruto smirked, "It isn't befitting for a beautiful girl like you." And with a wink and a flicker, he was gone.<p>

A rosy tint dusted her cheeks as she watched him disappear, seemingly into thin air. "Oh hey, aren't you Naruto's, uhh, companion?" she asked. Muttering deliriously, Jiraiya sat there with his face in his hands, "One hundred and forty three bowls of ramen… HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?"

* * *

><p>"Come on Riku, you've got to wake up. The third stage is in fifteen minutes!" Wailed a distraught Sakura. Sasuke stood beside her, leaning heavily against the wall, face void of emotion "We have to go or else we'll be disqualified." Muttered Sasuke.<p>

"But Sasuke-kun!" Cried Sakura.

"We need to go." Reiterated the black haired boy, more forcefully this time.

Sighing exasperatedly, Sakura finally relented and allowed herself to be tugged slowly towards the doorway, 'Why is everything so complicated…'

* * *

><p>Shadows signify light. Where there is a shadow, there must be light. Therefore, it can be evaluated then, that shadows are in fact, necessary. Darkness isn't.<p> 


	2. Chapter 1: Responsibility

**A/N: If you're still reading this after the prologue, thanks a lot! Things will start to make sense now, hopefully! Please R&R!**

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"SHOUTING"

**Chapter 1 – Responsibility**

Thirteen years ago, a flash stood in front of a great fox.

Thirteen years ago, a council condemned death upon a young fox.

Thirteen years ago, a toad ran away with the young fox.

Thirteen years ago, a story began.

* * *

><p>"Congratulations the both of you for progressing to the next stage!" Cheered Kakashi, eyes curving upwards into inverted smiles, "I knew you could do it, both of you."<p>

Frowning slightly at her mentor's ocular antics, Sakura asked the question on both her, and Sasuke's mind, "Thanks Kakashi-sensei, but what will happen to Riku?"

Suddenly interested in the previously inane conversation, Sasuke leaned forward in curiosity, awaiting silently for Kakashi's answer, already running through possible outcomes.

"Ah well you see, ummm, there might be a smal-"

"Get on with it," growled Sasuke, before composing himself again, "please."

Quirking an eyebrow in inquisitiveness, Kakashi continued, "Riku has suffered severe cellular injury to his vital organs, including but not limited to his heart and left lung. He has sustained so much muscle damage in his upper body it's amazing he's even alive and to top it off, he also has major grievous damage to his clavicle, collarbone, and four shattered ribs with fragments of such extending from his upper aorta to the lower tract of his large intestine. Long story short," he let out a heavy sigh before continuing, "He will never see life as one of a shinobi ever again."

* * *

><p>"I am going to kill you, you ungrateful brat." Growled a visibly aggravated Jiraiya. A killing intent malicious enough to make grown men ball up and bury themselves six feet below the ground leaked out like a plague onto the street, with citizens on the other side of Konoha suddenly feeling the urge to run into the Forest of Death, willingly.<p>

Laughing it off, prankster, shinobi-to-be, and all round menace to Jiraiya, Naruto simply shrugged it off, "Ah, can it you pervert, I said thanks didn't I?"

Jiraiya glared at the blond boy all the more. "You're just lucky that we have to get to the Exams quickly, otherwise I'd be beating your face into the ground right now." He took a quick glance at his watch. "In fact, I think we have a couple minutes."

Naruto edged back away from Jiraiya, who at this moment was laughing manically. Eyes darting left and right like a cornered prey, he saw his escape, "Hey look! We're here!"

Standing there before the pair was the largest stadium in Konoha. Thirty metre high walls, riddled with seals surrounded the center exhibit, a circular platform of sorts where the fights were to take place. Three large stands sat off to the right of the stage, aloft for greater viewing positions of the competition.

The stadium was already taking some punishment, with the fourth fight already taking place. The cheering of the crowd was deafening as the duo dashed towards the entrance.

"Come on old man, let's get a good seat!" Called Naruto.

"We've got assigned seats."

"Who cares?"

* * *

><p>"Winner, Shikama-"<p>

"Wait!" Called out a haggard boy with a lazy demeanor, "I forfeit."

The sound the exasperated hands making contact with their respective faces of his teammates and mentor accompanied the audible disbelief and shock of the crowd.

"WHAT?" Yelled his opponent, a fan user from Sunagakure.

Temari's opponent simply shrugged, "I'm low on chakra, besides, what's the point in winning, I'll only have to keep fighting and that's so troublesome."

At that, even the proctor was speechless. "Umm, well then… Winner, Temari!"

There was no cheering this time however, with the audience still too stunned to mount a significant response.

Looking up towards the Kage box, the proctor, Genma Shiranui gave the Hokage a querying look.

Motioning in reply, the Hokage and Kazekage looked on stoically, gesturing for him to continue.

"Uh well, Match 5, Sasuke Uchiha of Konohagakure vs Gaara of Sunagakure!"

It was as if the crowd had seen a great light as they exploded back into action, placing bets and cheering for their respective parties.

"The last Uchiha will crush that weak kid. Look at him, he looks like he's going to topple over any second now with that huge gourd on his back."

"Hah! What does he carry in that thing anyways? His diapers?"

"Poor kid. Gaara's going to crush him. Literally."

Genma waited for the jeering to calm down before beginning the match. Looking left and right at the two contestants and receiving a determined nod and an intense glare, he called it, "Match 5, Hajime!"

Sasuke darted forward at high speed towards Gaara, who in turn did nothing but stand there. He narrowed his eyes at the Suna shinobi with suspicion but continued his charge nonetheless, dashing left and right in a bid to confuse his opponent.

As Sasuke dived forward at the redhead however, the earth around him itself seemingly burst to life, sand flourishing upwards like a fountain, intent on grabbing onto the Uchiha. Widening his eyes in surprise, the raven haired boy twisted in a screw-like fashion to the left before sliding on all fours across the ground.

Growling in annoyance, Sasuke watched on as the smaller boy began to lift off the ground upon a small platform of sand, 'How is he doing that?'

He pulled out a hand full of shuriken from his pouch before flinging them at his opponent. Eyes glinting with intelligence as he watched the boy simply raise an arm to block the projectiles with his sand, he formulated a plan. Sprinting forward yet again, he whipped out a scroll before unsealing the fuuma shuriken inside. With an extravagant and possibly unnecessary spin, he threw the shuriken at Gaara at high speed, running behind it in its wake.

With a subtle roll of his eyes, Gaara watched on as his sand yet again rose up in his defense. He raised an eyebrow however as his shield receded into the ground.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique)!" Pushing as much chakra as he could muster into the technique, a stream of flames burst forth from Sasuke's mouth as he held his hands in the final hand seal of the jutsu.

Gaara watched on impassively as the flames approached. 'You will never defeat me because you are weak,' he thought before thrusting both hands forward. Sand emerged from the ground behind him a surged forward past him and towards his opposing contestant.

The intense heat of the flames impacted into the unstoppable tsunami of sand and intense white light erupted across the entire stadium, blinding the audience.

When the light died down, a symphony of amazed cries ensued. A huge crystalline structure sat in the center of the stadium resembling a tidal wave of sorts, perfectly captured in a lattice of glass.

On one side of the structure stood Gaara, breathing heavily, but still standing upright and unhurt otherwise. The situation on the other side however, was far graver.

* * *

><p>"Poor kid, he never stood a chance," commented Kankuro with a wince.<p>

"He should have known not to take on Gaara head on, he saw him in the Forest of Death," replied Temari, "he's ruthless."

* * *

><p>Naruto looked down into the stadium with a grimace, "I think the proctor's going to call it."<p>

Jiraiya looked over at him, "I wouldn't be so sure. Uchihas are notoriously stubborn and proud. You've got to damn near kill them to stop them."

* * *

><p>Sasuke growled at himself as he attempted to pick himself off the ground. 'How am I going to ever kill <em>him<em>when I can't even defeat him?'

Finally making it onto his knees, he looked up at the proctor, 'No it can't end here, I won't let it!' Punching the ground he got up fully. "I WON'T LET IT!"

Tearing his now shredded sleeves off, he made the hand seals he had only learnt days before.

* * *

><p>Gai narrowed his eyes suddenly at the seals being made by his best friend's student, "Kakashi, you taught him that?'<p>

Turning himself fully to face Gai, Kakashi gave his rival a grave look, "I told him the responsibility that came with it. I trust him…enough."

"We shall see if your trust is well-found." Muttered a new voice. Kurenai pointed towards the student in question, "Look at those marks."

"I thought you sealed the curse mark already?" said Asuma.

Kakashi furrowed his eyebrows, "The seal is subject to the user's will. Sasuke is losing control…"

* * *

><p>Throbbing and writhing beneath his shirt, Sasuke's curse mark began to activate. With a pulsing red glow, black marks raced across his body as he finished the hand seals for the chidori, "GAAAAHHHHH!"<p>

Taking off with a blast of earth from his previous position, he sprinted straight at the glass wave before punching straight through it with his free hand. Continuing his charge, deliriously, he yelled, "TAKE THIS!"

Gaara looked up, still exhausted from his previous technique, and hastily threw tendrils of sand at the raven-haired boy before putting up a haphazard sand shield.

Twisting and somersaulting to avoid the tentacles of sand Sasuke dashed through a tiny opening before yelling an indistinct battle cry and plunging his hand through the shield.

* * *

><p>From the contestant bench on the sidelines, both the Konoha and Suna parties leaned over the railing in anticipation.<p>

"Did Sasuke-kun win?" called Sakura.

"I don't think so," replied an unusually engaged Shikamaru, "I think he just made the situation worse…"

* * *

><p>Gaara looked down at the deep red blotch on his shirt expanding at an alarming pace. Panting raggedly, he began to hyperventilate, "NO, NO, NO! I WON'T LET MY EXISTENCE BE ERASED!"<p>

Sasuke was suddenly ejected from the sand shield and was left sprawled on the stadium floor exhausted, "…Did I win?"

Gaara looked up towards the sky, panting once, twice, before encasing himself in a complete sphere.

That's when the feathers began to fall.

* * *

><p>Trust is the glue of all relationships. It has been, and continues to be, the most effective and essential catalyst of communication. It is the foundational principle that holds all relationships, and yet, the trust of the innocent is a liar's greatest tool.<p>

"Deception is quite the unbecoming quality in a guest, is it not, Kazekage-dono?"

"Well you see, Hokage-dono, you must understand, though you are quite correct, deception is also the greatest weapon of a snake, Hiruzen-_sensei._" At that the _Kazekage_ began to tug at his face as an overbearing aunt would to a child, before with a dreaded tearing sound, it slid off like a latex mask, revealing a face of such pale complexion, unbefitting of someone who would come from the desert.

The old Sarutobi clan head cringed at the sight, "I see you have perfected that kami-awful technique…Orochimaru. But I fear that if you have come to wreak havoc upon Konoha, you have come at the wrong time – Jiraiya and his apprentice are here. You have come only to your death."

"Hah! You think that I didn't know? You underestimate my underhandedness sensei." Snapping his fingers, the greatest missing-nin Konoha had ever produced motioned to his ANBU guards who tore off their uniforms revealing their pale clothing, "But right now, I think you have bigger problems to worry about."


	3. Chapter 2: Unexpected Heroics

**A/N: Again, thanks for reading! Just for the holidays, I'll probably be updating at least twice a week. Please R&R!**

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"SHOUTING"

**Chapter 2 – Unexpected Heroics**

Kakashi dashed through the Suna shinobi towards his students with worry etched onto his face. Not so worried about his students per se, he was sure they weren't Sunagakure's – and Otogakure's - particular objective – though that wasn't to say he wasn't worried about his cute students, not at all, just that he was more worried about the Hokage who was currently fighting Orochimaru alone inside a purple barrier set up by Orochimaru's underlings.

Tearing past a few more Suna nin, the silver-haired genius looked back up, for what seemed like the millionth time, at the purple barrier, before focusing on the current shinobi attacking him with a chokuto. Barely recognizing the threat, he continued on towards where he knew Sasuke was lying on the stadium floor, 'One thing at a time.'

* * *

><p><em>Up in the stands…<em>

"Uhhh should we be helping?" asked a still seated, and decidedly confused Naruto as he kicked away yet another Oto nin.

"Well, do you want to?" Queried a similarly seated Jiraiya, who began scribbling furiously into a notepad at the sight of a female Suna nin attacking him.

"You need therapy, lots of therapy." Remarked Naruto with a frown before heaping yet another enemy nin onto the small pile he had made. "But I feel like we should be helping out here. I mean wasn't this your home and all before?"

"Ah yes I guess you have a point there," replied the sage before giving a small bow towards the Suna nin, "thank you dear." A sharp kick to the stomach sent her flying away. "Well let's be off then! You go help those outmatched Konoha genin against the Gaara boy, and when you're done, come back to that massive pulsing barrier there, smack-bang on the top of the stadium to help me."

Naruto peeled away from his fight for a moment to confront the taller man, "Do I have to? The Uchiha pretty much dealt with him already. He's probably going to keel over the moment I get there anyways!"

Giving his opponent a particularly hard fist to the face, Jiraiya turned to his apprentice, "Listen Naruto, don't write him off just yet. He's a bit like you. A container." He said gravely, "A jinchuriki."

* * *

><p>"Hurry up Kankuro, we have to get Gaara to the rendezvous point so he can transform." Yelled a concerned Temari as she ran through the forest.<p>

"Yeah, so we can get away," replied Kankuro from behind, "besides, cut me some slack, my puppets weren't designed to lug around a massive sphere of sand."

Temari twisted backwards to make a witty retort back at her brother, but was cut off by the whistling of kunai. Leaping sideways to avoid the deadly projectile, she pulled the disproportional battle fan off of her back and prepared for a confrontation.

"Damn it, I missed." Murmured a young blonde girl as she entered the small clearing.

"Yeah you suck Ino-buta. If that was me I would have hit her no problem and then Sasuke would have been all over me and we'd be married by the week." Sakura burst through the tree line, followed closely by Shikamaru, a boy with a small puppy on his head, and a pale boy with dark shades and a high collared hoodie.

"Pfft you wish forehead!" Cried Ino in retaliation.

_Meanwhile…_

"Maybe we should just leave Gaara here, Temari." Suggested Kankuro as he watched the two bickering.

"You wouldn't be that cruel would you?" said a cloaked figure emerging from the tree line. "After all, jinchuriki aren't particularly well known to leave survivors."

Temari narrowed her eyes imperceptibly at the new arrival, "You don't have anything on to align you to any village, but you're dressed like a shinobi..." Her eyes widened at the revelation, "You're not a bounty hunter are you?"

The person laughed enthusiastically before pulling off the hood of his cloak, "A bounty hunter? No, not at all! Though I guess I'm not officially aligned to a village, no, but I'm _affiliated_ with Konoha, so I can't really let your brother crush, maim or smash these cute, little genin into pulp."

Sakura suddenly snapped towards the conversation, "Who are you calling cute, little genin? You can't be any more than two years older than us. You aren't even a shinobi! What did you drop out of the academy but keep the clothes? I bet you're just a- mmmpfff!"

Shikamaru suddenly clamped his hand over her mouth, 'So this new person just appears in this clearing without any warning, no subconscious chakra release, no sound, nothing," he narrowed his eyes visibly, "Just who are you?"

Naruto simply looked on in amusement. He was opening his mouth to speak when he was, rather rudely he might add, interrupted by the hooded boy, "What is it that you are doing here then? This is the logical question. Why you may ask; well it is the logical question as we do not kno-"

"Please, shut up. No offense, but- actually scrap that, with offense, you sound boring as hell." Commented Naruto. He again attempted to speak when, yet again, he was rudely interrupted by barking laughter.

"HAH HAH HAH! Finally someone who understands how I feel about you Shino!" Called out the boy with red tribal markings on his cheeks. Interestingly enough, the puppy on his head similarly gave an intelligent bark. "My name's Inuzuka Kiba and this is Akamaru. I like you and because of that I'm not going to beat you up!" He motioned towards his friends, "We're part of the Konoha Nine!"

He was about to go on when an intense scream shrieked out from the cocoon of sand between the two Suna nin. Kankuro managed to keep his footing as the ground suddenly began to shake, "We have to leave now, Temari. Let's go." His sandy blonde (no pun intended) sister nodded grimly in agreement before sprinting off with him back into the forest.

Ino called out in protest, "HEY COME BACK HERE!" Shaking her fist in anger, she looked towards her former classmates, "Come on guys, let's… Oh, that's one big raccoon."

Sakura nodded dumbly and looked set to turn tail and run when Kiba abruptly yelled eagerly, "HE'S STILL GATHERING SAND, WE'VE GOT THIS GUYS! LET'S DO IT!" He sprinted forward past Shikamaru and Sakura when he was tersely pulled off his feet by his hood.

Looking sternly at the slightly shorter boy, Naruto set him back on his feet, "Listen to me, you have not got this. Go chase down the two Suna genin and hand them in to Konoha Torture and Intelligence. Alive if possible. Like this, Gaara is too far out of your league."

Indignantly, Kiba glared back at the blond boy, "Just who do you think you are?"

Naruto simply stared back unflinchingly, "A demon. Now go."

Shino spoke up for the first time in what seemed like ages, "It is the logical thing to do, Kiba. My kikaichu have tasted his chakra, his reserves are greater than all of ours combined. We can benefit Konoha the most by capturing the two of the Kazekage's children."

Turning back, Kiba gave one last proud look with an upturned nose before running over to his fellow Konoha genin, "Let's go guys."

Sighing in exasperation and to a small extent, relief, Naruto turned back to the half-transformed biju. "Ah, Ichibi no Shukaku, the great Bakedanuki and Suna no Keshin." Naruto laughed manically, "I'm dead."

* * *

><p><em>Hokage Tower roof…<em>

Jiraiya stared watched on in despair as his sensei and his summon, Enma battled against Orochimaru and fearsomely, the Shodai and Nidaime Hokage. He knew the old man was tough, but he doubted anyone short of Minato or a jinchuriki with full control over their biju could take on that S-rank _snake_ and two immortal, invincible kage with unlimited chakra.

After looking briefly at the ANBU to his right throwing any techniques they could muster at the barrier, he looked back towards the kami-forsaken monstrosity. The purple barrier, was in fact, two of such transparent walls: one to prevent them from being decimated as collateral damage by the top flight battle taking place inside, and another to stop anyone from the outside helping those on the inside.

Without nothing else he could do to make a severe impact on the outcome of the wide scale battle taking place in the rest of Konoha, he took to glaring at the barrier with a hatred to match Tsunade's of perverts (ie. Of him), as if he could set it alight… 'That's it! If I heat up the surface of the outer layer, the interior barrier will theoretically contain the heat inside the space in between, creating a hotter and hotter environment until those four can't keep the barrier up any longer!'

Not willing to keep the revelation to himself, he shouted towards the ANBU standing guard, "Throw any fire techniques you have at the barrier now!"

Following a short chorus of "Hai, Jiraiya-sama," which in another, ahem, specific situation he would have _loved_ to hear, an inferno encapsulated the barrier, hiding it almost completely from view.

Agonizing groans and a cacophony of swearing emerged not seconds later before all of a sudden, the barrier fell.

* * *

><p><em>Somewhere in the forests outside of Konoha…<em>

"Well shit."

Sharp, screeching laughter drove off birds kilometers away as Naruto met the gaze of a certain raccoon, "HAH HAH HAH! You know, I must thank you ningen, for if you had not driven my container this far, he would not have resorted to letting me free! He must have really wanted to kill you." Supposed the biju, "Oh and though I did thank you, you're still dead! HAH HAH HAH!"

Naruto gazed on, stunned, as the tailed beast took a deep breath before pounding its stomach, "Futon: Renkudan (Wind Style: Drilling Air Bullet)!"

Naruto widened his eyes in shock as an enormous, highly compressed ball of air came barreling towards him, "Oh fuc-"

Exploding upon impact, the technique levelled a great deal of forest, kicking up dust and sand universally, a thick fog of such particles lingering in the air for a great deal of time later.

Upon seeing no retaliation in return, the biju simple shrugged its shoulders of gigantic proportion and headed towards the Village Hidden in the Leaves, "Oh, well I haven't destroyed an entire village in a while! WOOHOO TODAY MUST BE MY LUCKY DAY! HAH HAH HAH!"

* * *

><p>Not waiting for the smoke from the bombardment of fire techniques to die down, Jiraiya darted through towards where the battle was last.<p>

He couldn't believe his eyes.

It was as if time stopped and everything around him slowed to a still. He saw mismatched ANBU throw everything they had at the two reincarnated Hokage, running through multiple strategic maneuvers to somehow disable the Kage but really, he couldn't bring himself to care, because standing there was his mentor, sensei, teacher, leader, and father-figure with a sword through his stomach.


	4. Chapter 3: Eye for Immortality

**A/N: Thanks all for reading! More techniques and more of Naruto! As always, please R&R!**

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"SHOUTING"

**Chapter 3 – Eye for Immortality**

Kankuro kneeled in front of the tree completely humiliated. No not humiliated, not embarrassed, he was damn straight furious. Why? Because he'd been defeated so easily by those weak Konoha genin? No! He knew if they didn't have that kami-damned Aburame's kikaichu to negate his puppet strings, it would have been an easy win. Was it because that stupid dog had pissed all over his puppets? No! Well yes, but that wasn't the only thing! It was because that thrice-damned dog boy had pissed all over him! HIM! What kind of barbaric, animalistic… animalistic… animalistic DOG whips it out during a fight and pisses all over his enemy?

"OH KAMI I CAN STILL SMELL IT!" He cried in vexation as the dog boy laughed, "Oh you'll laugh now, but I swear to kami, I swear, one day you'll be pissing and a puppet will crawl out of the urinal and slice your-"

"Kiba, we have company." Said an ever-stoic Shino.

Temari appeared from behind a tree followed closely by Sakura and an annoyed Shikamaru carrying an unconscious Ino on his back. "What's up guys?" Greeted a positively jubilant Sakura before pinching her nose and cringing, "What in kami's name is that smell?"

Wailing, it was Kankuro who gave her the answer, "I'M COVERED IN THAT FERAL ANIMAL'S PISS, THAT'S WHAT SMELLS."

Sakura looked over towards Shino and Kiba, "What, Akamaru?"

"No, Kiba." Replied Shino.

Meanwhile, Temari sat beside Kankuro and extended her hands, pushing her wrists together, "Hurry up and tie me up. I want the smell of Kiba's piss as far from my nose as possible."

Complying with her order, Shikamaru lay Ino down before tying Temari's wrists together with rope, "Well technically-"

"Shut up Lazy."

"Troublesome."

Kankuro looked on with shock, "What are you doing Temari?"

Sighing, said blonde looked over, "Wrong blonde here, Yamanaka Ino at your service. Yeah, I would shake your hand if it wasn't covered in human urine."

"And if your hands weren't tied together."

"Shut up Shikamaru."

"Troublesome."

* * *

><p>Pulling himself up off the oesophagus floor of the toad he had summoned himself into hastily (Kuchiyose: Gamaguchi Shibari [Summoning: Toad Mouth Bind]), Naruto disabled the technique, returning to the leafy battlefield of previous, "Well that definitely could've gone better."<p>

Dropping down to a branch slightly below before leaping back up to the treetops. Looking left and right, Naruto placed his face in his hand, "Only I could have lost a twenty storey, oversized rat." He almost lost his footing a moment later as a rumble followed by a minor tremor reverberated across the countryside.

Turning around on his leafy perch, Naruto sighed in relief, 'Thank kami, it hasn't reached Konoha yet. I've still got some time to stop it.'

Leaping towards the cataclysmic tanuki, he calmed himself, he focussing on his steady breathing and the sound of his feet touching each tree branch as he hopped. Reaching inside of himself, he felt the flow of chakra through his body, ebbing and flowing like a river, and the occasional pull of a whirlpool. Making a single ram hand seal, he mouthed the words that had become so comfortable on his lips since he began training with Jiraiya:

'Shunshin'.

* * *

><p>Jiraiya stood still, muscles tense, teeth grit, and breathing heavy. His long white hair, now matted with blood fell over his eyes, deep black eyes glazed over and steeled. Hands pressed firmly together, it were these very eyes which not moments later, twisted and brightened into shimmering golden orbs.<p>

Orochimaru stood equally motionless, his sword, the Kusanagi no Tsurugi buried hilt-deep into his former mentor. A manic grin sat right at home on his face, features greased in blood and sweat. He opened his mouth to belittle and mock his former sensei but found he could not. He no longer faced the Hokage, but another of the great Sannin, one who had a grip of iron, tightening around his throat.

"How could you do this, Orochimaru? You have betrayed the village, your friends, the Hokage, your sensei uncounted times. Each time it hurts all the more, and yet each time, it doesn't." He tightened his grip even more, Orochimaru's throat almost unbelievably thin, "Each time we think we have seen your worst, you find a way to surprise us."

Orochimaru flailed about, now forgetting about his priceless blade completely as he clawed and grasped at his former teammates fingers. He drew blood but Jiraiya's grip did not loosen in the least.

"You won't be surprising anyone ever again." The Toad Sage whispered. The snake Sannin begin to panic fully, no longer caring about his greater plans as he felt a swirling of foreign chakra inside his throat, ' I can't die here, I still have to discover the secrets of immortality, I still-"

Blinding pain overwhelmed all other rational thoughts as Jiraiya's Rasengan (Spiralling Sphere) tore the innards of his oesophagus to shreds as he screamed silently.

"This is the end, Orochimaru."

* * *

><p>"Doton: Yomi Numa (Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld)!"<p>

Shrieking in distress, the tailed beast flickered its beady yellow eyes frantically looking for its unseen attacker. Eyes squinting visibly, the enormous biju looked down at the positively dwarfed Naruto before screeching in laughter, "AH SO YOU DID SURVIVE! I KNEW YOU WOULDN'T DIE SO EASILY! HAH HAH HAH!"

"Damn straight I survived, and I'm going to make you regret it!" Tearing off his cloak, Naruto flickered through a long chain of hand seals, "Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi no Jutsu (Summoning: Food Cart Destroyer Technique)"

An enormous toad rivalling the size of the biju itself collapsed ungraciously onto the Ichibi, pushing it even deeper into the colossal swamp, leaving only the demon's head resting above the surface.

The gargantuan toad looked left and right confusion before noticing Naruto, "Naruto! You summoned me here?

Naruto, who by this point was sprawled out on the floor of the clearing, looked up tiredly before nodding, "Yeah, thanks a ton Gamaken." Groaning loudly, he got to his feet, "Quick question, would you know how to fix, uhhh, this?" Naruto motioned wildly at the biju still beneath the toad in the swamp.

"Well, I'm not the smartest toad at Myobokuzan," he chuckled modestly, "but I assume it has something to do with the boy on the beast's forehead." The great toad said before pointing downwards.

Naruto looked back confused, "What boy… oh, that's all I needed to do?" He sighed exasperatedly before looking to the sky, "WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN TO ME?"

Muttering indistinctly, Naruto hopped onto the biju's sandy head. "WAKE UP YOU SON OF A BITC-"

"NOOO YOU CAN'T WAKE HIM UP NOW! I ONLY JUST GOT OUT!" Wailed the great demon as he flailed about in vain.

Naruto ignored the biju's antics as he raised his sandal.

* * *

><p>War often isn't about who's right – but who is left.<p>

The battle had been won, but not the war, though that seemed to be coming to a close soon enough anyways. After the Oto/Suna forces saw their leader, the Kazekage, and by default, Orochimaru defeated, and their powerhouse weapon, the Ichibi defeated soundly, many of the shinobi surrendered then and there.

Jiraiya sat alone in the Hokage's office, in reminiscence and contemplation. Hiruzen-sensei had long been whisked off to medic-nins. The Hokages, the reincarnated ones, crumbled to dust at Orochimaru's death. The Kusanagi no Tsurugi brought to the Konoha T&I for evaluation and testing. Everything was over, yet for some inane reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that it was only beginning.

"…raiya-sama? There is a certain, ah, Uzumaki Naruto looking for you outside. Should I let him in?" Called an attentive secretary from outside the door. Jiraiya stood to his full height, gazing out through the panoramic windows.

"Ah yes. Let him in." The scenes of destruction and fires blazing across rooftops pervading his eye line. He couldn't bear to see the village in this state. Yet he couldn't take his eyes away.

"Hey old man, finished up on your own pretty quickly." Said his apprentice from beside him. 'Damn he's getting good at that, didn't even feel him until he spoke.' He sighed inwardly, briefly shying away from the windows, 'He's so much like you it frightens me, Minato. Taking on a biju at thirteen and the like.'

"I saw the destruction as I came through," Naruto continued softly, "and you know what it reminded me of?" He gestured towards the scene before them, "It reminded me of Shimo no Kuni."

Jiraiya's eyebrow quirked briefly above closed eyes. "Open your eyes, old man. Look again, not at the destruction and suffering; no, look at the people working together, rebuilding in unison for a new start. Look for that little boy who gives his last sweet to the crying old lady who lost her home."

Naruto paused briefly, choosing his next words carefully, "Look for the light, Jiraiya, and you'll find the end of a dark tunnel."


	5. Chapter 4: A Staple Diet

**A/N: OverlyExcitedUnicorn here! Thank you to everyone still reading my story! Just a few notes: team seven (without Naruto) had NOT completed the Land of Waves Arc prior to the chunin exams; Riku was injured by team seven's fight against Orochimaru in the second stage; and this chapter is going to be pretty short! Sorry! I will promise to make them longer in future. Anyways, as always PLEASE R&R and enjoy the story!**

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"SHOUTING"

**Chapter 4: A Staple Diet**

"I'm sorry," said a frowning blond, "I thought I heard you say that you were dumping me in Konoha whilst you go gallivanting around the Elemental Nations."

Naruto looked upwards incredulously at the sage with unimpressed eyes, hope etched on his face that his mentor was in fact, kidding. Jiraiya gave a long, exaggerated sigh. Rubbing his temple with his right hand, he prepared his eardrums, "I'm sorry Naruto, but I wouldn't feel quite… right with myself if I simply left my place of birth vulnerable and weak as it is now. Hiruzen-sensei hasn't recovered fully yet and to rectify that, I need to find my other, living teammate."

Naruto eyes narrowed sharply, "Does your asshole ever get jealous of the amount of crap that comes out of your mouth?" Raising an eyebrow in slight curiosity, the blond teen went on, "I want the real reason."

Jiraiya slapped his face into his palms, groaning, 'Kami sensei, I told you this wouldn't work…'

_Flashback Begin_

Jiraiya sat attentively by the Hokage's bedside, tapping sporadically on his knee with two fingers. He looked over to the old man's weathered face, marred with wrinkles and scars, "Sometimes I wonder what could've been if Orochimaru hadn't left the village." He turned his head slightly to the side, lowering his eyelids slowly as he listened to his master's rhythmic breathing.

A gentle summer breeze trickled into the room through a half-open flap, tan and equally as weathered as his mentor's face. Waiting furtively for a few moments more, he stood up silently and turned to the entrance with no lack of enthusiasm.

"You know, sometimes I do too," called a rasping croak from behind him. Whipping around, the toad sage was by his side instantly, "Sensei, you shouldn't speak now. The medics have only just stabilized you to this extent minutes ago. If for nothing else, don't waste all their hard work!"

"Ah I'm tougher than you think," a heaving cough stumbled from the withered man's throat, "Besides, this needs to be-"

Jiraiya interrupted almost authoritatively, "I'm heading with Naruto to meet Tsunade in Tanzaku-gai and bring her back to Konoha, hopefully then she'll be able to help you and maybe even-"

"No! Listen to me Jiraiya!' The veteran leader shouted, "It's about Naruto." Jiraiya suddenly fell silent with a forlorn look plastered on his face, "Jiraiya, the boy is to remain in Konoha, permanently," Jiraiya sat up abruptly, looking to confront the thin man but was cut off quickly, "It's where he belongs. Do whatever you must. Please, Jiraiya; do it for me."

_Flashback End_

"I won't be long, I just have to tie up some loose ends," the burly man affirmed, "You're going to be replacing a crippled genin in Team Seven. Their jounin leader is Hatake Kakashi so you'll be in safe hands."

Naruto sighed in resignation, "I really don't have a choice do I?" Jiraiya shared a grim look. "Well, a couple weeks with a few genin and a Copy Ninja, how bad could it be?"

Jiraiya gave his young apprentice his trademark thumbs-up before doing a full 180, 'Right, a couple weeks…'

* * *

><p>Sasuke sprinted forward with determination and grit teeth at the object, which in recent days had become the bane of his existence. 'Kami-damn that smug bastard!'<p>

He dashed left and right in quick succession hoping to confuse his opponent, "You're mine!" Leaping into the air elegantly, he viciously flung a hand-full of deadly shuriken towards his enemy below him, watching as the fatal projectiles homed in on their target.

A sharp screech sounded from the cat below him as it scurried off beneath a nearby grocer cart. Growling in frustration, the Uchiha heir furiously shook his fist above his head uncharacteristically before giving chase yet again.

Whizzing past legs of civilians and acrobatically through the turning wheels of an oxen-drawn cart, the royal feline ran for its life. Skidding across the gravelly dirt road of Konoha's East District, the cat noticed a sliver of pink in the corner of its peripherals. Clawing into the ground, it twisted sharply to the side and hurried away down another street full of people.

It seemed like the battle was won until it felt a firm hand grab it by the scruff of its neck. After giving a fierce struggle briefly, the cat lowered its head in defeat, resigning itself to its eternal punishment of being crushed by its owner, Madam Shijimi.

Naruto stood up quickly with victory fixed on his grin looking towards his new teammates, "Capture Mission: Tora complete. Let's get this little monster home."

Still adorned in his tan ANBU vest, the blond teen now had the marking of Konohagakure and the Land of Fire proudly displayed on his engraved metal plates over the outer part of his hands.

Thrusting out his arm with Tora towards Sakura, who deftly dropped the cat into a small brown rucksack, he ignored the whispers around him before turning suddenly towards a small food cart behind them expectantly.

"Good work Naruto!" Called an enthusiastic Kakashi from the seats by the handcart. Reading his infamous orange book, the prodigy looked up briefly, giving his former sensei's son an extra extravagant eye-smile, before giggling perversely, "Looks like you're already quite good at snatching up that pussy."

The three could only sigh.

* * *

><p><em>A few days later…<em>

The Mission Hall was a busy place year round and this particular day was no exception. Shinobi rushing about, administrative chunin handing out missions and the remainder accepting or returning mission reports.

Among many teams there was genin Team Ten.

'Finally a real mission!" Cried a fervently bouncing blonde, "No more dumb D-Ranks!" Barely seated, the girl tapped excitedly on the floor, before catching herself in realisation, "So Asuma-sensei, what are we still doing here?"

Realising he was being spoken to, the smoking jounin took a particularly deep puff of his cigarette before pulling it out, "Well Ino, we're waiting for Kakashi and his kids to get here so we can begin our joint A-Rank to Nami no Kuni. Now that Konoha is recuperating from the recent attack, it's up to us to pick up on the slack as the other jounins stay in Konoha to deter any other attacks. We're also waiting on Shikamaru, who seems to be taking an awful long time in the bathroom…" Shaking his head, the experienced jounin went on, "You would've known all that if you weren't screaming your head off after hearing I requested for the mission to the Land of the Waves…"

At that, Ino had the decency to at least look abashed. Opening her mouth to mount a defence for herself, she was cut off by the sound of a door slamming open.

Tumbling into the now silent room was a half-naked Sasuke and Sakura, with an equally clad Naruto and Kakashi stepping in soon after.

The sound of jaws smacking against the polished wooden floorboards was audible.

* * *

><p><em>Earlier that day...<em>

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN OUR MISSION IS TO GIVE AN OLD LADY A STRIPTEASE?"

* * *

><p><em>Presently…<em>

It had been twenty six minutes since the quartet's entrance to the Mission Hall and Sakura still had not been able to dig out her teammates and leader from beneath the massive pile of amassed kunoichi, even with the valiant efforts of Asuma, Chouji, and Ino.

Eventually, the team was able to unearth Sasuke from the pile, though he looked slightly traumatised, "Sasuke-kun! Oh I'm so glad I got to you! I don't know how I would live my life if I could never see your beautiful face again!" Nodding dumbly, Sasuke was only able to manage a small twitching eyelid as he stared ahead blankly.

Scanning through the remaining pile of females, Chouji spoke up, "Hey, where's Kakashi-sensei and Sakura's other teammate?" Looking around, Asuma realised his pleasantly plump student was right, the silver-haired scarecrow and his new pupil were nowhere to be seen.

After managing to get her hands briefly on a shell-shocked Sasuke's abs, Ino joined in the second search for Sakura's team. "Dammit Forehead, for a team with such colourful hair, you guys sure know how to disappear." Asuma nodded slightly in agreement before widening his eyes marginally, "Uh guys, I found them, they're over there."

Striding regally out of the male bathrooms was a fully clothed Naruto and Kakashi. Looking towards his moody student, it was Kakashi who spoke first, "Did you guys break him?"

"Nah, we dragged him from underneath those girls over there like this," said Sakura, flicking out a thumb towards the small mountain behind her, "but more importantly, how the hell did you guys change so quickly?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly before stepping towards his Uchiha teammate to inspect his twitching eye, "Trade secret." Poking Sasuke sharply on the forehead, he scribbled something into a notebook he procured, seemingly out of thin air. "I've seen this before. Mmhm, I'm sure of it now. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder." Shaking his head slightly, he stepped away and turned towards Sakura with a grave look.

Sakura gasped at the serious expression her newest teammate wore on his face, "There is a cure, right?" Panicking slightly at the lack of expression on Naruto's face, she turned towards her jounin leader in hope.

Said Copy Ninja looked up slightly with a dark expression, "There is, but it is not easy." Sakura dived at him, pulling tightly at his collar, scrunching it roughly inside her fists, "No matter what it is, I'll do it for my Sasuke-kun," she cried in determination.

Smirking slightly at the situation, Asuma watched on silently as his fellow jounin gestured back towards Naruto, 'I wish I shared this inner connection with me and my kids,' he sighed.

Naruto rotated his head back upwards and whispered into his pink-haired teammate's ear. Blushing slightly, she nonetheless nodded back resolutely and began the procedure.

Satisfied, Naruto walked away towards the door, "Meet you all at the North Gate tomorrow at seven," he called back, "Oh, and Shikamaru's asleep on the toilet floor, near the third cubicle from the left."

* * *

><p><em>Later...<em>

Sasuke snapped awake with a glass-shattering scream.

Jumping for joy, Sakura threw her fist skywards, "SHANNARO! It worked!"

And that was the beginning of Sasuke's unprecedented phobia of staplers.


	6. Chapter 5: Wave after Wave

**A/N: Hi guys! First and foremost, Most of you who have read this story prior to today, you probably will have noticed the title change. Yep, it's not a mistake, I really did change it because someone said it sounded too boring :( Anyways, here's the next instalment of "Like A Fox"! Please R&R!**

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"SHOUTING"

**Chapter 5: Wave after Wave**

Human settlements usually follow the path of water. Winding and meandering downhill, so too do humans, sprawling about the waterbody like a parasite, and perhaps, in that consumption of the water's resources, we have inherited some of the substance's nature: To take the path of least resistance.

Nami no Kuni once bore name as _the _distribution port of Konoha, Kumogakure, Kirigarkure, and even Uzushiogakure before its destruction. Despite being an island nation without any land ties to a particular nation, the country remained relatively untouched and prosperous, relying on shipping for commerce and trade. That was, at least, until its recent takeover by notorious billionaire crime magnate, Gato.

* * *

><p><em>Gato's Mansion, Nami no Kuni…<em>

"So you're telling me that all eighty five of my hired mercenaries weren't able to take the rebels' pitiful excuse of a stronghold?"

A thin, wiry thug looked up. Chewing his lip nervously, he nodded his head slowly, "Uh…" He glanced to his comrade beside him anxiously before continuing with a shaky voice, "T-they were all cut down by the Kirigakure missing-nin."

The bare room did nothing to disguise their master's obvious displeasure at the news, with not even a window to allow natural light entrance. A single flickering bulb hung in lonesome fashion from the ceiling as a heavy sigh sounded from behind the unadorned plastic desk.

A quiet trickling sound came from the silent brute as he watched as the chair before them spin a full 180 to face the two. Interlocking his fingers together, the man inhaled deeply, pulling himself to his full height.

The tension in the air was palpable as the two subordinates gulped loudly.

"I want every man with enough fingers to hold a weapon on the ready and on standby," he said quietly, "and call in Renga and his brothers." He looked menacingly at the two minions, "It's time to crush this little rebellion."

* * *

><p>Ino stared yearningly through a small gap in the fence. Sighing dramatically, the blonde girl refused to look away as she spoke enthusiastically to her long-time friend and rival, "Well, he's definitely an improvement from your old teammate," managing to tear her eyes away from the small hole, she quirked her head quizzically at her pink-haired companion, "I've never seen him around before though… I think I would've remembered someone as cute as him around."<p>

Sakura shuffled slightly towards Ino, studying the ripples she made with a close eye, "Yeah, me neither…"

Ino looked confused, "And you never thought to-"

"OF COURSE I ASKED, YOU BLONDE BI-"

Ino dived away from the wooden divider with unexpected speed, clamping her left hand firmly on her colleague's mouth as she looked back at the fence suspiciously. Satisfied after seeing no reaction from the men's side of the hot springs, she placed her index finger on her lips before crawling slowly back to the fence cautiously.

Sakura huffed heatedly at her former classmate's perverted antics, "He just said that he had left the village when he was still a baby – nothing else." Closing her eyes in relaxation, she let herself slip lower into the springs and purred contently, 'I wonder what he did before he came back to Konoha?'

Her thoughts were abruptly brought to a close by the sound of snapping wood and jaw drops.

Snapping her eyes open, she noticed two things: 1. Ino peeking through a hole in the fence, and 2. the fence now lying flat on the floor.

Right now was not a great time to be Yamanaka Ino.

* * *

><p>Kakashi looked at his smoking friend curiously, "Sorry, you were saying something?"<p>

Asuma threw his cigarette away as he leaned forward from his armchair to pushing a piece on the shogi board forward, "I asked who Naruto really is, Kakashi," he sighed deeply without the comfortable feeling of his cigar between his lips as he awaited his friend's answer.

In the bland hotel room, the two looked quite out of place as Kakashi looked analytically at the china teacup in his hand, "Why, he's Jiraiya's apprentice, of course." Placing his cup gently back on the countertop, as I fit would shatter at a moment's notice, he pushed a piece of his own forward as he delved back into the pages of his beloved.

Asuma looked expectantly at the scarecrow ninja, heaving a sigh, "You know what I mean," opening and then closing his palm slowly, a finger at a time, he gnawed slightly at his fist, a bid to quench his craving.

A bemused expression on his face, Kakashi glanced around, before suddenly changing his demeanour completely to a serious one, "Listen Asuma, I… there are some things that can't be spread, not only for Naruto's safety, but also for the safety of Konoha itself." Asuma looked on, intrigued as the words came spilling out of Kakashi's mouth, "I trust you, Asuma, more than I trust pretty much anyone else out there, but not even I know who Naruto really is. All I can tell you is that Jiraiya doesn't just pick any kid to be his apprentice."

Standing up, Kakashi began walking towards the door behind him. Stopping once, he turned his head slightly and gave Asuma one of his trademark eye smiles, "You are so whipped."

* * *

><p>Waves washed in and out of the sandbank, crashing relentlessly into the rocky outcrops jutting out of the headland like fierce daggers. The moon was high in the sky, amidst its twinkling comrades, and the calm sea breeze whistled silently, an endless breathing whispering its verses over and past the serene landscape.<p>

Three days had passed since the now dubbed _Ero-Ino Incident_,and the two genin teams had finally stumbled and staggered their ways to the most eastern shores of Hi no Kuni. Awaiting their contact's arrival, or perhaps, revelation, the genin quickly collapsed in utter, unadulterated exhaustion.

Kakashi, with his trusty Icha Icha suddenly reappearing in his hand, looked over curiously towards Naruto and his most unexpected, newfound friend – though said person would never admit it that way – Sasuke. Over the past few days, the two had seemingly found friendship in mutual victimisation of perversion from any, and every, female they came across.

From the gravelly floor, Sakura tracked her sensei's eye-line, before attracting his attention subtly with a tap on his foot, "Yeah, I _really _didn't see that one coming either, sensei." She twirled her finger through her hair casually before going on, "But I like it." She concluded.

Kakashi only smiled.

* * *

><p>"And why should I?"<p>

Jiraiya sighed inwardly before looking around at the tavern they sat in. Thinking back, he realised that he really hadn't thought out his plan of bring Tsunade back all that well. Not at all in fact.

Closing his eyes in thought, he paused for a moment before posing a question, "Did you know Minato had a son?" Looking at his busty teammate's gobsmacked expression, he leaned forward, placing he elbows on the bar stand they sat at, taking a drink from his sake.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes like a hawk in suspicion, running through the countless possibilities, before picking her own glass up and taking a particularly long swig, "Don't kid about things like that. Lying isn't going to make me go back to that kami-forsaken place." Jiraiya looked back at her, with an exaggerated offended look on his face.

"If you don't believe me, come back and see for yourself," he rapped the table with his knuckles softly before taking a sip from his own cup, "Just come back once more. Please, Tsunade. If not for me, then for sensei. He needs you, Konoha needs you!"

Looking into the depths of her cup, Tsunade glanced sideways at her teammate's pleading expression. Sighing loudly, the slug Sannin put her glass down and turned from the table, "I'll go to treat sensei, but nothing more. I am not taking the seat which took so many from me." Marching out of the bar and around the corner, she stopped and looked down to her jade necklace, feeling its smooth surface with her fingers, 'I won't.'

* * *

><p>It wasn't a good time to be Yamanaka Ino now either.<p>

Ignoring the heaving rocking of the boat, she hesitantly looked downwards at her once pristine purple crop-off, spotting yet another chunk from the seemingly endless abyss which was Chouji's stomach, "Kami Chouji, why did you do this to me? WHY?"

The rotund boy only scratched the back of his head apprehensively and gave a nervous laugh, "I'm sorry Ino. I guess my tummy just doesn't like the sea. I can help you clean it off if you want…" Suddenly grabbing his stomach with two hands, the Akimichi abruptly pulled away from the blonde girl, "Hghhh, t-there's still m-more!"

With the storm rapidly intensifying, Ino scrambled to the furthermost point of the small paddle boat from her plump friend. Hiding behind an equally terrified Sakura, the girls watched on in morbid curiosity as Chouji began to puke in stupendous quantities.

The huge waves crashed into the hull of the small ship, throwing it around like a child's ragdoll through the air as the shinobi swiftly forgot about Chouji's predicament and opted to holding on for dear life.

The wind howled like a deranged wolf as the assembly's contact, who introduced himself as Kora, grit his teeth with determination, utilising all of his skill as a veteran captain to navigate the tiny craft through the storm, "Damn it! If we didn't need to have such a small boat to sneak into the island, this would have been so much easier!"

Kakashi simply nodded rapidly, eye widened in shock. Looking over to his male students, he was not surprised in the least to see even Sasuke furrow his brows with concern. "I'll be happy to make it to the island at all right now, never mind sneaking in!"

Holding onto the edge of his seat with such intensity he was afraid it would break, Asuma looked at his fellow jounin disbelievingly, yelling to be heard over the wailing wind, "HOW THE HELL IS SHIKAMARU SLEEPING?"

* * *

><p>Unsurprisingly, it was with great joy that the small company of ragged shinobi stumbled onto the sandy shore of Nami no Kuni.<p>

Chouji, who by now had a most empty stomach, summed up the group's collective thought by kissing the ground on which they stood fervently. "I don't think I've ever been so glad to see land."

A chorus of agreements rang out behind him as Kora strode past the group quickly, gesturing for them to follow, "Quickly, it's almost dawn. We can't be caught out here or Gato will skin us alive." Sprinting up the steep banks, the old fisherman pointed them towards a small, rundown house, "The rebel alliance is based in that house there. You'll get your full pay for an A-Rank mission there as well."

Looking back, Kakashi thanked the weathered sailor for his services and pushed his subordinates towards the small house. The mission had only just begun.


	7. Chapter 6: Down to Business

**A/N: Happy New Year everyone! Thanks to all you who have followed and/or favourite and/or reviewed! This chapter will be much longer as to atone fore my previously short chapters, I swear, and I'll strive to make them around this length in future as well. This chapter will have much more action and you'll see a lot more of Naruto so yea! I hope you all enjoy the altered Land of Waves Arc!**

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"SHOUTING"

**Chapter 6: Down to Business**

Haku eyed the door suspiciously.

It wasn't every day you had a visitor knock on your door at dawn. Expecting the worst, the black haired girl formed a small icicle in her right hand she reached towards the door. A heavy hand suddenly weighed down on her should as her bandaged master reassured her, pulling out his enormous blade in conjunction.

Her heart pounded in her ears as she slowly unlocked the door. Tension mounting, she suddenly gasped when, as her hand moved downwards to grasp the small handle, she was interrupted by the door being abruptly wrenched from her delicate fingers, an action which inspired the offending person to almost being decapitated entirely by Zabuza's sword, Kubikiribocho.

* * *

><p>Time seemed to slow for Sasuke as he watched a ridiculously large metal cleaver home in on his neck. Realising he would not be able to lift his arms fast enough to block the broad sword, he simply resigned himself to his fate and made sure his last words were truly inspirational, "That's a big ass sword."<p>

He was saved from his fate, however, by a clash of steel and a slight gasp.

Dashing in with a well-timed shunshin, Naruto drew his own blade and redirected the path of the former Kiri ANBU's cleaver downwards in a single, fluid movement. A second flick of his chokuto moments later left the Demon of the Mist completely and utterly flabbergasted; flabbergasted and disarmed. Zabuza look on with wide, disbelieving black eyes at his blade, lying solemnly on the floor beside him; the last time his swordsmanship had been invalidated so easily had been in a friendly spar with…

"NARUTO!" Cried an ecstatic Haku. Diving forward, the slim girl rushed to tackle the blond boy to the ground but met the sole of a heavy sandal instead, a sandal which belonged to not a sopping wet blond, but a sopping wet blonde. Sakura slapped her friend condescendingly as Ino eyed the raven girl heatedly, "Woops, I slipped," she muttered irately, "it must've been the water messing with the tread on my sandals."

Regaining his composure shortly after, Zabuza recollected his blade from beside him before greeting the blond boy friendlily, ruffling his hair, "Almost didn't recognise you there kid, it's been a while," he chuckled cordially, "You've grown a hell of a lot you damn sprouter!" The Kiri missing-nin placed Kubikiribocho back on his back before looking over the blond's shoulder. Nudging past the boy, he helped Haku back up before confronting the newest arrivals.

Kakashi watched the group's antic with suspicion, 'Our client Tazuna didn't mention anything about hiring missing-nin as well in the mission request,' he looked at his newest student standing calmly beside said A-Rank mercenary, 'and yet Naruto seems perfectly comfortable with it…' He was pulled from his thoughts however, by his fellow jounin elbowing his side urgently. It seemed Zabuza had been speaking.

"I'm sorry," he began coolly, "did you say something?"

* * *

><p><em>Some training ground in Konoha…<em>

Tenten sucked in the water from the trickling waterfall greedily as she turned to her pale teammate tiredly, "Gai-sensei and Lee must run on sunlight or something, they never seem get tired."

Neji looked back over his shoulder stoically, "Indeed, they must-"

He was suddenly cut off however, by the irate shouting of his eccentric jounin leader, 'DAMN YOU AND YOUR HIP ATTITUDE KAKASHI!"

* * *

><p><em>Nami no Kuni…<em>

The small team had finally made their way inside, led by Naruto and Zabuza who had been chatting genially for the past few minutes. Edging past drab, unadorned walls, the group reached what seemed to be a kitchen, though it no longer resembled anything as such. Reaching for a cupboard, Naruto pushed apart two cans of preserved vegetables like it was his own home, and pulled on a grey lever sharply. A loud grinding sound came from beneath Shikamaru, who shuffled from his spot quickly, watching on perceptively as seven greasy tiles shrunk into the floor slightly before sliding sideways beneath the surrounding tiles.

Kakashi studied Naruto's unsurprised expression as Zabuza leapt through the new hole, trailed closely by his blond student. Filing away his thoughts for future references, he gestured for his fellow jounin to go first with a characteristic eye-smile, "Ladies first."

* * *

><p>Zabuza turned his head slightly to his 5'9 companion before turning round a corner in the dark tunnel they had entered, "I had meant to ask since you arrived, where the hell did you and Jiraiya run off to anyways," he turned back to the front and shrugged his shoulders slightly, "I mean, I was glad that it meant that I wouldn't have to keep him away from Haku every second minute, but we sat in that room for bloody hours waiting for you two in case you turned up."<p>

The blond teen gave a short laugh, tilting his head backwards for exaggerated effect before looking back at the tall man, "The perv decided it was time to pay his hometown a visit. Getting nostalgic in his old age or something, and we just uh," Naruto looked away awkwardly, "kind of forgot?"

Running his hands along the smooth, tiled walls, Zabuza glared back slightly – but with no real intent- and motioned to speak when he was interrupted by an intense killing intent settling over the group. "You better stop eyeing up Sasuke-kun like a fresh piece of meat pretty soon or I'm going to tear your hair out."

Haku glowered back momentarily at the pink-haired girl, before shrinking away like a cornered animal, blushing brightly that she'd been caught staring. The sound of Zabuza's jaw dropping against the floor was the only sound for the moment as an awkward silence settled over the company.

Sasuke glanced at the two girls fleetingly before scooting around them and tugging on Naruto's sleeve harshly, "Are we almost there yet? I don't know how much longer I can handle…" he waved his arms comically around him in despair, "…this."

Zabuza, finally able to re-hinge his gaping jaw in its rightful position - with the eagerly accepted assistance of his left hand- turned towards Sasuke, "We're here." Leaning against the door in front of them, he pushed it open, "Welcome to the Wave Underground."

* * *

><p>Renga gave a wry smile at the chest of gold placed in front of him by his brother, Jiga, "And this is only the first payment?"<p>

The trio sat silently around a table in a cold, insipid room of a ransacked house. Tapping his feet against the rotting floorboards rhythmically, the former jounin swivelled on his chair to face his brothers.

His round brother looked at him, grinning maliciously, "Yep, the first of three," counting his fingers, he pulled on each respective one as he looked towards his other brother, Ruiga, "One now, another when we kill Momochi Zabuza, and the last when we destroy the rebel headquarters."

Ruiga looked back at his corpulent brother with a curved smirk, "With two jounin and you, this will be a breeze." Looking back at the stack of gold ingot sitting in front of his eldest brother, he twirled his tonfa in anticipation, "Let's make some money."

* * *

><p>The Wave Underground was a group of concerned citizens who had banded together just months after the arrival, and consequent takeover of Nami no Kuni, after deciding that they had had enough of the harsh treatment they had suffered under Gato's rule. Armed with only old harpoons and fishing utensils, the small force ran small food gathering and guerrilla attack missions, harassing the band of hired mercenaries Gato had employed to keep control of the small island nation.<p>

However, all their hard worked seemed to be undone when finally Gato realised that his hired guns were being effectively outmuscled by fishermen with pointy sticks. Bringing in the Criminal Brothers seemed to be the killing blow to the Underground, with no civilian ever being capable of taking on a ninja, even against a genin.

Wandering into the room, Asuma whistled appreciatively, "Wow, I didn't think a place so poverty-stricken would have such a well-equipped headquarters." A huge sphere of water sat as a sort of centrepiece in the room with bulges appearing and moving about occasionally, a single comfortable armchair sitting just in front of it.

"It's our early warning detection system set up by Zabuza-san using his Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hiding in Mist Technique)," came a kind, if somewhat gruff, voice from behind them, "It is quite versatile."

Kakashi observed the man inquisitively, tapping on his chin as if it would tell him who the newcomer was, "We're the team sent from Konoha to help with the situation here. You are the client?"

The man gave a loud, ostentatious laugh, "Ah how rude of me, I'm Tazuna, the bridge builder and head of the Wave Underground, some of you might even know me." He winked at Naruto before throwing his arm out in a greeting gesture, "It's nice to finally meet you all. I was beginning to think that Zabuza's throwing arm wasn't as good as I once believed." He glanced momentarily in the mentioned man's direction with amusement.

Chouji perked up, shocked, "Wait, you-"

"I'll show you just how good my throwing arm is you damn drunkard," Zabuza muttered lackadaisically, rolling his shoulder menacingly before slinking towards the armchair and lounging into it. Tazuna laughed heartily as he waved the missing-nin from Kiri off before rotating his body to face the Konoha nin completely, "Just head through there on the left," he pointed towards an old, dusty doorframe with the hinges apparently shattered, "I'll be there in a moment to inform you all of the situation."

Inside the room sat a long rectangular desk with small stool arrayed on each side. Crystal tumblers full of iced water sat on one end, and a small bowl of peppermints rested on the other.

Naruto looked towards the front of the cheap wooden desk nostalgically, running his hand along the edge and heaving a gentle sigh, "It's good to be back."

_Flashback_

The quiet sound of the whistling wind was suddenly cut off by window shutters slamming closed. Rubbish littered the barren street as stalls were left abandoned and ransacked by thuggish men prowling the empty aisles. Those without homes scrambled towards the comfortable safety of the darkness in alleyways as two cloaked figures glided noiselessly along the empty footpath.

Ambling slowly through what once seemed to be bustling market, Naruto looked at his tall guardian, "What happened here?"

Nudging the obstructing hood out of his eyes lightly, Jiraiya looked at his surroundings forlornly before resting his chin on his neck, "It seems this town has fallen under the oppression of a tyrant, a dominating tyrant." Biting his lower lip, he shook his head sadly, "We should leave soon. There is nothing we can do here."

Naruto looked at his master in shock. Gesturing with open arms at the utter mess around the pair, he stopped, "We can't just leave with the place like this. Think of the amount of people that are suffering somewhere here! On this very street!"

Jiraiya turned to his young apprentice with pride showing through his otherwise steeled face, "You have a pure heart, Naruto," he ruffled the boy's blond hair affectionately, "And I probably wouldn't understand if I was nine either. But this town needs to find a way out of this mess by themselves. What's the point if we dig them out of this hole, but when we leave, they fall in it again? You see?" Jiraiya patted Naruto's whiskers familiarly before walking on, "Come on; let's go."

Naruto looked to reply before closing his mouth dejectedly. Shoulders slumped, he began to follow the toad sage when he heard a loud crash resound from behind him. Turning quickly towards the source of the sound, he watched on in slight amazement as three teenagers took on a group of mercenaries with nothing but a length of rope and extreme coordination. He gaped openly as the intricate and rather one-sided fight came to a close, with the four thugs collapsing to the ground, completely hog-tied by the teens.

The small team high-fived one another in celebration before dragging the bundled thugs towards a small wooden shack on the edge of the shore. Calling to Jiraiya to follow him, the two of them marched into the shack after the youths, and it was only minutes later that Naruto (without his mentors willing consent) officially declared their new allegiance with the newly founded Wave Underground.

Two years passed like the blink of an eye as our blond hero dashed from the docks like a mad dog. After being realised that the two were in fact shinobi, Jiraiya and Naruto were effectively absorbed into the Wave Underground chain of command within weeks, with the elder of the two becoming the main strategic consultant for the faction.

As such, it had become the norm for Naruto to be juggling high risk, solo mission and his own intensive training on a daily basis. From destroying imported shipments of drugs and weapons for Gato's purpose to running guerrilla missions with his fellow rebels, Naruto's workload seemed endless as he dived around a corner of an alleyway. He was suddenly brought to a screaming halt soon after as he eyed up a large group of mercenaries looking to finally put down the damned brat.

Wearing only a black shirt and dirty brown pants, he would've been easily mistaken for any other young peasant but for his bright, vibrant blond hair. The first thug ran at him with a butcher's knife, swinging it wildly with his right hand as he looked to draw first blood. Ripping out a slender kunai in retaliation, the Kyuubi jinchuriki counted his opponent's swings patiently before rushing inside his attacker's guard with a shunshin.

Witnessing their comrade's swift defeat was probably not the most inspiring thing ever as the remaining mercenaries charged at the boy with various battle cries.

Somersaulting and flipping acrobatically, Naruto tore through the burly men with ease as his small kunai grew thick with blood. Flickering away with a final shunshin, he slid his slim blade back into its sheath on his back before continuing on his way. He never saw a pair of watchful eyes trail his path back to the Underground headquarters.

_Flashback End_

* * *

><p>Kakashi twiddled with a peppermint as he set his orange book down onto the table. Looking at Naruto with the corner of his eye, he leaned forward onto the table, "So Naruto, how exactly do you know an A-Rank missing-nin from Kirigakure?"<p>

Looking around and seeing everyone other than Sasuke and the two jounin engaged, Naruto leaned forward and took a sip from one of the tumblers, "Well, Jiraiya and I liked to travel for inspiration for his stories," he gestured slightly to the orange book on the table, "and we somehow ended up uh, kind of taking command of the Wave Underground. Zabuza joined two years later."

Asuma quirked his head to the side slightly as he propped his cheek on his right arm, "Right, and why exactly would a renowned missing-nin decide to settle down and devote so much effort in a cause which he has no personal stake in?" He sat there awaiting his answer eagerly before he realised that the table was absolutely silent. Tracking their line of sight, he found it had led to the chewing mouth of his colleague.

"What?"

Sasuke observed his sensei's munching maw with uncharacteristically wide eyes. Opening and closing his mouth sequentially like a fish, he finally managed to blurt out a few, garbled words, "But. Mint. Through. Mask. Saw. What. How."

Asuma looked back at a smug Kakashi, as he finally caught what his words meant, "Oh you sneaky… Genjutsu?"

Kakashi smirked back, bemused, "Got it in one."

The bearded man looked to speak again when the confused voice a Tazuna rang out from the doorway, "Am I missing something?"

* * *

><p>Jiraiya looked around the waiting room in tense anxiety. Looking at the simple clock hanging above the doorway, he counted the minutes again, 'No, it's been too long.' He stared back at the door across from his seat with visible concern, willing for it to open, to give his <em>some<em> news.

The smell of disinfectant hovering like a fog, the well-built man tapped his fingers on the armrests beside him nervously, snapping upright as the handle of the whitewashed door twisted slowly, as if to mock his apprehension.

After what seemed like an eternity, a certain blonde medic-nin stepped out of the room silently. Brushing her hair across to the side with the back of her fist, she whipped off her gloves before throwing them with practised ease at the small bin.

"He's stable, but he'll have to stay in bed for the next few weeks."

Jiraiya almost collapsed to the floor then and there. Tsunade patted him on the shoulder comfortingly; her brash teammate was closer to their sensei than she ever was, Orochimaru never even in contention. "He'll be fine. Give him a few days and he'll be awake and running the village within the week."

Jiraiya smiled gratefully at his fellow Sannin, "Thank you, hime, thank you so much."

* * *

><p>Naruto sat patiently amongst the tall grass outside Gato's Mansion. Counting down the seconds, he ran through the mission brief in his head, before prodding Kakashi and holding up two fingers, mouthing "Two minutes" towards his masked sensei.<p>

'So, Asuma, Sasuke and Chouji will take on most of the thugs at the east gate with their widespread, destructive techniques, creating a large enough distraction to draw guards from all over the compound towards them. Kakashi and I will then slip in through the main circulatory vent located just past the south gate.' He nudged his companion once again, this time holding up just his index finger, 'Once in, we'll have to find the main communications complex and divert and deflect all incoming shipments and resources to an Underground-controlled dock on the other side of the island, where Zabuza, Haku and Sakura will be waiting with the entire rebel forces. Once Kakashi and I have finished up there, we'll have only four minutes to make it to Gato's personal office and deal with him. Shikamaru, with his intellect, and Ino, with her family technique, will be coordinating the operation at Underground HQ. '

He looked up as he heard the first signs of the huge and crass destruction taking place on the far side of the compound. Watching the guards start to drift towards the east gate, he nodded at Kakashi and flickered onto the guard platform with a smokeless shunshin. Drawing his simple chokuto silently, the battle was over before it began.

Seeing Kakashi finish up on the opposing guard tower, he leapt off the platform and landed just in front of the whirring vent. Arriving moments later, Kakashi exhaled sharply as he stared down the pipe. Glancing down at the fan below, he rubbed his hand together in slight unease as he dived into the tube.

* * *

><p>"Katon: Goryuka no Jutsu (Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique)!"<p>

A huge dragon-shaped fireball rushed towards the amassed mercenaries at high speed. Crashing heavily into the earth, the searing heat rushed across the surface of the ground, scorching anybody who had not been already incinerated by the massive blaze itself.

A small head popped out of the blistering ground below, as Chouji pulled himself out of the loose gravel, "Dammit Sasuke, you almost hit me there!" Dusting his shoulders of the dirt still plastered on his clothes, he looked to shout at the raven-haired shinobi again when he was abruptly interrupted by his jounin leader.

"Job's not done yet," the former Guardian Ninja sliced past another thug with his trench knives, augmented with wind chakra, "Don't get lazy."

Kicking a thug looking for a cheap blow away, Sasuke glared at the jounin, "You've got the wrong member of Team Seven if you're thinking lazy. Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu (Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique)!"

Chouji looked towards the horizon as he disregarded Sasuke's widespread fire technique crash into enemies all around him. "Baika no Jutsu (Multi-Size Technique)!" The round boy suddenly expanded in size in extreme multitudes and began to slam his fists into the ground around him, "Guys! The reinforcements are here!"

* * *

><p>Kakashi gestured towards Naruto as the two waited outside on either side of the communications room door. Pulling out a kunai from his pouch, Kakashi lifted three fingers, counted them down slowly. His hand finally made a fist as the two rushed through the doorway.<p>

Flinging his kunai at the furthest person in the room, the silver-haired jounin moved to draw another weapon but chose not to, instead watching on in curiosity as Naruto suddenly appeared at the far end of the room with his blade sliding slowly back into its sheath.

Naruto felt his blade click shut as he whispered a single word, "Sentsuna (Instant)."

The scarecrow jounin watched on in morbid curiosity as each and every other member in the room suddenly crumpled into heaps, cuts appearing all over their body. 'Kami Jiraiya, what have you created?'


	8. Chapter 7: Waving Goodbye

**A/N: I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING IN AGES! Blame it on my trip to the Great Barrier Reef! By the way, that was awesome! ANYWAYS, here's the next instalment of Like a Fox! This chapter will be slightly longer than the last and will have lots of fighting (as well as some in-between bits). We are almost at the end of the Land of Waves Arc! Oh and Sasuke...(read on!)**

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"SHOUTING"

**Chapter 8: Waving Goodbye**

"What the hell are those two doing?"

Stubbly face inches from the flickering monochromatic screen in front of him, his sweaty palms gripped the mahogany desk with eager anxiety. A huge rumble racked the illustrious building for what seemed like the hundredth time as the grimy man suddenly flicked his head over his shoulder like a cornered animal, looking to the three men standing stoically behind his chair.

He spat in disgust, "Well? DO SOMETHING! I DON'T PAY YOU TO JUST STAND THERE!"

The tallest of the three brothers looked towards his left, in the direction of his portliest sibling, "Jiga, deal with them."

The portly brother left a slight nod later as Gato slumped back towards his immaculate desk. He could do nothing but watch as he witnessed the rapid dismantling of his Nami no Kuni exploits by the two kami-forsaken Konoha ninjas' hands, as green and black integers and numbers pervaded his screen, counting down his trading stocks as they disappeared into an Underground-controlled docking account, "Well there goes my Wave activities," slamming his palms against the table, he groaned in frustration, "no, no, no, no, NO! THIS ISN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!" Glaring heatedly at the monitor for a while longer through his black rimmed glasses, he pummelled his fists into the wooden desk like a petulant child as he yelled and shouted indistinctly before collapsing with visible exhaustion into his large seat. Lying there for a few moments, doing nothing but contemplating his endeavours which had now been spoilt, he suddenly snapped ramrod straight and furrowed his brow with concentration. His right hand at his temple, he gestured animatedly with his left index finger to nobody in particular, "If those shinobi are here or at least close by, and the rebels I assume to be mostly within the dock premises, then who's at the Underground Headquarters?"

Spinning a full one-eighty violently, Gato slipped off his chair with the elegance of a slug, before managing to squeeze past Renga and Ruiga, "Let's go."

Renga arched an eyebrow in curiosity as he followed the moustached man out of the room, "Where to?"

Pushing his black spectacles up onto his nose with two fingers, the lens refracted the light from the hanging chandelier menacingly. Chuckling lowly, the crime magnate turned slowly to face his two hired guns, "Why, to wave goodbye, of course."

* * *

><p>Fingers clattered frantically into worn keys as the musky odour of spilt blood lingered in the damp air. Flickering screens flashed all around the room, illuminating each and every corner with a dazzling display of colour and excitement; something major, something incredibly important was taking place, something to turn the tables upside down and inside out, something deceptive.<p>

A sudden, urgent tapping broke the rhythmic tune as Kakashi's solitary eye flicked to his blond counterpart. However, it was not Naruto who spoke first, but the voice in his head, "Hurry up you two, you only have forty eight seconds and counting. This is the most important part of the operation!" Shikamaru urged.

Breathing an exasperated sigh through his teeth – and mask – Kakashi shook his head slightly as his fingers blurred into a jumbled mess, 'Now, now – we still have time…'

The jounin slammed his finger on the final key before snapping his head towards Naruto, nodding slightly. The blond shinobi nodded back in acknowledgement before quickly whipping out his chokuto and plunging it into the machine console, "Raisō: Ikazuchi no Utage (Lightning Burial: Banquet of Lightning)!"

Electric currents originating from Naruto's blade tore through the machine, shredding the drives to complete disrepair as the sparks branched off infinitely into the contraption. The awful sound of tearing and grinding emerged from the device as the blond genin watched on morbidly as the computer slowly crumbled and melted into a glugging, plastic mess. Pulling his blade out carefully, Naruto flourished his blade intricately before sliding it smoothly back into its sheath.

Kakashi stared at the burnt wreckage with a thoroughly impressed expression hanging off his face, "So, a lightning affinity…" he glanced to where his blond student was standing last, only to find an empty space.

Said boy's voice, however, emerged from outside the room moments later, "Come on Kakashi, we only have twenty three seconds. I want to make it back for dinner. Some ramen would be nice actually…"

The silver-haired prodigy gave a small, genuine smile as he looked yearningly towards the heavens, 'Ah Minato-sensei, he's your son alright, he's just like you!"

* * *

><p>Asuma slid left effortlessly on his feet before somersaulting backwards acrobatically to avoid a hastily thrown pike. Regaining his feet, the jounin dashed around the spear, dragging his trench knives through the air. The extending of his blades' reach with his manipulation of wind chakra was enough to slice through the thug's midsection cleanly as the Konoha ninja glanced at his two underlings before being forced to reconcentrate on yet another batch of mercenaries attacking him. Breathing sharply in annoyance, missing the comforting feeling of a cigar between his teeth, Asuma span languidly as he carved through the mismatched criminals with accomplished ease, 'This is almost boring, but there's just too damn many of them. They're like cockroaches!' The 'former' smoker closed his eyes momentarily in irritation, 'How troublesome.'<p>

* * *

><p><em>Wave Underground Headquarters…<em>

Shikamaru thought long and hard on the dilemma which now faced him: to fist-pump or not to fist-pump. Calculating the various and many multitudes of possible, likely and unlikely, outcomes, the raven strategic genius scoured his mind over the troubling, and troublesome, predicament at hand. Surprising Ino suddenly, he almost spat in laughter, "What a joke."

He cackled momentarily before his blonde teammate slapped him over the head, "Concentrate, Lazy!"

Holding the victimised spot (now bruise) on his head dearly, he pineapple-haired boy could only sigh, "Troublesome."

* * *

><p><em>Outside Gato's Mansion…<em>

As the bearded jounin closed his eyes however, he only opened them to complete and absolute darkness. Waving his arms in front of him like a mythical zombie of sorts, Asuma probed with his hands at arm's length, feeling the air before comically. He was abruptly brought to a halt seconds later as he reached a hard wall. Running his hands across the rough, cold wall he found jagged edges all around his body, encircling and overbearing him in a dome-like fashion. Pounding the walls furiously with no amount of delicacy, and finding no physical weakness in the barrier, the jounin stepped towards the centre of the dome. Looking to his palms, Asuma rubbed the residue on his fingers together, noting the gritty and earthy texture, "Doton…"

"...Ganban Kyū (Earth Style: Bedrock Coffin). Not even you, Sarutobi Asuma, a man with a 35 million ryo bounty across four elemental nations, will be able to break out of this anytime soon." Jiga laid his large hand deftly on the enormous dome-like structure now standing before him, patting the surface gently, as if the slightest touch would be enough to shatter the object. The rotund man chuckled in delight, looking to the remaining two offenders fighting valiantly against the hordes of hired thugs, "Now that the hard bit's done," Jiga rubbed his meaty palms together in anticipation, "Let's have some fun."

* * *

><p>Sprinting down the lavish corridors athletically, Naruto appeared more hunter than human as he made a sharp, split-second turn to round a tight corner. Shrugging past the elaborate tapestry and curtains, the lean shinobi rushed past a fountain depicting Gato as a stark naked cherub – at which he gave a visible cringe – before forgoing the regular, and generally accepted way of ascending a staircase, opting to leap the entire article completely. Landing lightly on his feet at the head of the flight of steps, Naruto raced off down another hallway, but not before looking over his shoulder to the base of the stairs, to a certain mask-wearing cyclops.<p>

Kakashi watched on as his former sensei's son dashed past doorways and marble pillars. Sighing to himself, he leapt up the staircase before giving chase, 'Kami he's quick. Jiraiya must be a slave-driver when he comes to his apprentices."

_Flashback_

"Come on, old man! Teach me a kick-ass jutsu already!" The blond menace dived around the sandy shore of the beach in anticipation, flinging his arms and legs manically in a very much kung fu-like manner. Flicking up sand and quartz pebbles alike, his aged guardian of sorts, currently seated on a sizable, smooth rock, groaned slightly with his hands on his temples, "I swear to kami, if you weren't Minato's boy, I would… I would…" the great sage of Myobokuzan tore at his hair in frustration before yelling incoherently.

Naruto looked up from his prone position with his chin resting resolutely upon his palms. Kicking his legs in mid-air nonchalantly, the five year old giggled happily before hopping up and diving onto the luscious mane of his mentor, "HAH HAH! You would love me just as much!" Slipping off Jiraiya's thick hair, Naruto skipped over fondly to the front of the large man, crouching forward with his hands on his knees, "So?"

Giving his sore temples one last longing rub, the tall shinobi sat up slowly and folded his arms confidently, "Fine." He ignored Naruto's massive fist pump, "I'll teach you a knockout jutsu, but not until you're fast enough to… to get from here," He hurled a small stone four hundred and fifty yards down the beach, "to there before the pebble hits the ground."

Naruto looked gobsmacked as he snapped his head from Jiraiya to the spot where said man had thrown the rock, "But, but…"

The sage cut off the jinchuriki however and smirked to himself contently, "Being light on one's feet is one of the most important aspects of shinobi combat. Being able to dart around opponents and slowly exhausting them, tiring them out will only help you, as they become increasingly sloppy in their fatigue. Even further, you could potentially-"

A loud groan erupted from the blond boy as he slumped backwards exaggeratedly in a crumpled heap, "But why?" Slurring out the latter word, the young child propped himself up on his elbows as he looked towards Jiraiya, clearly unimpressed by his short lecture, "You can't even beat someone by being fast. Just teach me an amazing, kick-ass, cool jutsu and I'll beat someone into the ground so many times that it-"

He was abruptly cut off by a burly fist crashing down resoundingly unto his head.

"Shut up you damn brat!" Puffing his chest out exasperatedly, the Sannin elaborated, "For one to… If you get beaten into the ground before you can even react, how are you going to unleash your 'amazing, kick-ass, cool' technique?" Waving his arms about for extra effect, Jiraiya watched smugly as his point finally dawned upon the boy's whiskered face. Patting Naruto warmly on the head, the perverted sage got up and kicked his seat down into the water, not even watching in his peripheral vision as it tumbled sea-bound, "Now watch carefully, I'm going to show you some effective exercises to help you build up some of that speed. Once you've done that, we'll move to utilizing chakra to enhance your muscles, and then, and only then, will I teach you a cool jutsu."

His blond apprentice huffed loudly and pouted, looking disappointedly at his master, "There really isn't any way for me to talk you out of making me do this is there…" Sighing heavily, Naruto sat up attentively, flicking his shaggy hair out of his face, "It better be an awesome jutsu."

Jiraiya looked at his adopted son slyly, grinning, "With the technique I'll teach you, you'll be able to beat your opponent to the ground alright, beat your opponent into the ground and then beat the ground into oblivion."

* * *

><p><em>Flashback Continue<em>

Waves rolled in along the shore, disturbing the otherwise motionless sand banks as small crabs darted across the surface. Seagulls squawked noisily and circled above the beach, as if as an omen, and Jiraiya sat silently at the top of the foredune.

Watching on as his Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone) tossed yet another pebble across the shore, he clapped approvingly as Naruto danced about elatedly at the far end of the beach. Grasping the small pebble in his hand, the blond eight year old spun rapidly before releasing the stone, flinging it randomly into the sea as he cheered at his success.

A success which was quickly cut off by a stone being thrown at his head.

"Hey! Listen up: I'm a man of my word, so I will be teaching you the jutsu I promised you," Looking around at the beach the two had frequented sporadically over the past three years, Jiraiya digressed, "in fact there's plenty of water around to help teach you the first step."

Naruto hopped impatiently from one foot to the other, nervously awaiting his mentor's next few words, "First step of what?"

A blue ball of pure chakra swirled ominously in Jiraiya's right hand.

"Well, what other than the Rasengan?"

_Flashback End_

Walls beside him, bejeweled with exquisite embroideries and extravagant ornaments, blurred beyond recognition as the masked ninja tore through the building. Skipping on his left foot haphazardly, the jounin reached around the corner with his opposing leg to find Naruto simply standing at the door of Gato's private office, a hand gripped firmly against the frame.

Approaching the blond, Kakashi looked over his student's shoulder and hummed enquiringly. Nudging past Naruto, the prodigious shinobi looked into the room with confusion. Eyeing up the flickering screen on the centre of the wooden desk, he watched curiously as he observed the rotating cycle of cameras pass over the communications room and battle outside, "I thought this was the only place he would ever go in the case of an attack, at least that's what Shikamaru told-"

Naruto interrupted his sensei however, suddenly sprinting off towards the far panoramic windows, "He's going after Wave HQ!"

Turning suddenly and running after Naruto, Kakashi yelled out the question preying on his mind, "How do you know?"

The blond genin spared his new master a concerned look as he barrelled towards the glass panes. Pointing to his head urgently, he braced himself for impact as he scooped up a small coffee table, holding it in front of him like a battering ram, "Ino just screamed!"

* * *

><p>Blazing through thugs twice his size with practical ease and a trusty kunai, Sasuke skipped elegantly away from one of such mercenaries' desperate lunge before using the man's head, ingeniously, as a springboard, soaring into the air gracefully before flicking through a series of well-versed hand seals, "Katon: Karyūdan (Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet)!"<p>

The outmatched men below looked on with hopelessness as a series of dragon-headed fireballs tore through their ranks.

Chouji watched on morbidly as the screams of the burnt or burning rang out across the battlefield, slowing daring to a close. Eyes slowly roving left and right, he looked at the blatant destruction around him as the smoke and dust gradually cleared up. Stepping carefully to avoid the bodies scattered sparsely around him, he finally met the steady yet determined gaze of his impromptu teammate. "How… Sasuke…"

The pleasantly plump Akimichi sullenly brought his gaze to his own hands, inspecting the calluses and blackened skin analytically, "Could I have been able to do this… even for Shikamaru and Ino?" He shivered at the thought and shook his head grimly as he saw his reflection staring back at him curiously in a murky puddle at his feet.

Eventually regaining the strength to drag his head back upright, he took a double take as he saw the last Uchiha take a kunai from his hip pouch and fling it hard and straight at him. Throwing himself desperately to the side, the food-lover almost smacked the offending boy into the damn ground for such an action. Almost.

A soft grunt sounded from behind the rotund Akimichi as he turned quickly to see a man pull the small kunai gently from his left bicep and discard it. Sneering arrogantly at the two boys, the new arrival deftly revealed a small sickle, taking great pleasure in unravelling the long chain slowly as the overweight man whirled the weapon with clear expertise around his head, "That was a lucky shot kid, and it won't happen again," he suddenly stabbed the sickle at the end of the chain into the hard earth between them, yanking roughly to tear the ground up, "But you wont get another opportunity like the one you just wasted, because you'll be dead by then."

Sasuke eyed the newcomer unimpressed as he toyed with a weapon of his own absentmindedly, "You won't kill me now, because I still have things to do before that day comes, if ever." Looking at Chouji with a keen eye, he acknowledged his fellow teammate's nod as the round boy threw dozens of shuriken at the man with all his might.

A formidable wall of metal death approached the portly man – who forwent any and all attempts at movement or evasive manoeuvres – as Sasuke narrowed his eyes, keenly observing the event at hand. Suddenly lifting his hands, the new enemy took a deep breath before exhaling heavily, glaring at the projectiles heatedly, "Jishaku Ninpō (Magnet Ninja Art)."

Pure, unadulterated chaos erupted in the vicinity as the shuriken – formerly flying the air - abruptly stopped midway before amazingly enough, shattering into miniscule, particle like pieces, forming together to create a single, great mass.

Staring at the reality anomaly with no lack of surprise, the two genin were unable to react as the metallic swam blindsided the pair, roughhousing them heavily into the dirt. Dragging himself quickly to avoid another run of the particle swarm, Sasuke pulled Chouji quickly to his feet before fling themselves off the path.

Sparing his partner a brief look, the Uchiha glanced over the battlefield to find their missing jounin, "Where is Asuma-sensei dammit?" He winced as another run of the particle swarm smashed into their previous position as he and Chouji dashed from cover to cover, hoping for an opening to arise.

Landing haggardly on an extenuating piece of debris, Sasuke's eyes narrowed imperceptibly as he saw a large earth dome structure jutting out unnaturally in the distance. Hopping away hurriedly yet again as the mobile metal storm swerved into the ground just beside them, the last Uchiha grabbed Chouji's arm urgently, "Get Asuma-sensei out of the rock dome over there," pointing into the distance, he turned back towards their attacker with fury in his eyes, "I'll hold him off for now. Hurry!"

Chouji nodded and sprinted towards the dome Sasuke was talking about. Frowning slightly as he leapt over a small crevice made by the metal swarm, he perused his brain over a certain object of his interest pestering him since the new guy arrived and began attacking the two, 'Why were Sasuke's eyes red?"

* * *

><p>The small wooden-framed door stood no chance as Ruiga planted his tonfa through the age-old lock. Marching in confidently, the mercenary looked about as his short employer shortly followed.<p>

"It looks like you were right, there really isn't anyone here."

The moustached shipping corporate magnate sneered arrogantly at the purple-haired missing-nin. Strolling casually down the corridor to his left, Gato tapped his walking stick against the wall suspiciously, looking for a trapdoor mechanism or hatch opening of some sort.

"There may still be a way to salvage my exploits here yet," now in the kitchen, the five men, including Gato's two samurai bodyguards, suddenly halted as said man scoured through cupboards scrutinisingly, "We need to kill Tazuna, we kill the client, the damned Kiri and Konoha shinobi will leave. No client means no reward. No reward means no point in staying."

Suddenly, the stout man brushed clumsily past two empty aluminium cans and reached for a lever, concealed cleverly at the back of the drawer. Nodding to himself satisfyingly, he smirked at the two ninja's surprised reactions. "Well what are you waiting for?"

The two criminal brothers looked at one another briefly before shrugging and hopping into the now exposed passageway - A passageway constructed of aged wooden stakes and brick pillars feebly supporting the tons of earth above, with small oil lamps placed at regular intervals to provide light.

The light of aforementioned oil lamps glimmered faintly, reflecting sharply of the glistening sweat of the small group as they picked up the pace. The sound of flames flickering and wavering slightly was the only sound heard as they hurried through the tight earthen corridors.

A new sound, however, abruptly emerged in conjunction with Zori smacking face-first into a large metal door with the words 'Wave Underground' scratched roughly onto the surface, spanning across the two doors brilliantly.

Pushing past the two samurai smoothly, Renga began tugging the moisture from the air around them tersely, before collecting them in his palms, "Move. Ice Disk Technique!"

The two samurai and Gato watched on in awe as two powerful pillars of pure ice erupted from the small ball in the eldest missing-nin's hand. Sharpening to a point, somewhat resembling a spear, the two pillars tore straight through the heavy metal obstacle and into the fortified room with practical ease, surprising all the occupants within.

As the dust around them settled, Shikamaru could only watch and witness the already troublesome situation mount in seriousness and become even more troublesome for him and his blonde teammate. Wiping the grit and debris from his face, the pineapple-haired boy made no effort to move and decided that the best option to make at the moment would be to play dead.

Ino sat up slowly, gripping a spot where a small but fast-moving shard of ice made itself home in her lower abdomen. Staggering to her feet, the blonde Yamanaka stood as confidently as she could before pointing assertively at the new arrivals, "Who the hell do you think you are? I don't remembering a squad of misfits to use as target practice in the past month." Tilting her head backwards superiorly, Ino turned to her Team Ten teammate for backup before smacking her palm into her face in exasperation, "Shikamaru, stop playing dead and get up…"

Flicking a single eye open languidly from his spot on the floor, which he decided to be extremely comfortable in the current situation, the child genius turned his head slightly to face the group, "Will you guys accept a verbal surrender?"

Turning and seeing the extremely confused faces of the new enemies, Ino rushed over to her lazy teammate and dragged the sprawled out boy to his feet, before knocking him back to the ground again with a heavy punch, "GET UP YOU IDIOT!"

"Troublesome."

Shaking himself out of his confused stupor, Gato smiled as Tazuna walked into the room hesitantly, always staying behind the two genin. Treading carefully, the old bridge-builder and leader of the Wave Underground frowned at the unexpected appearance of his nation's recent decline.

"What are you doing here, Gato?"

Gato laughed manically before sticking a fat cigar into his mouth. Taking his time to prepare and light the roll, the criminal mastermind exhaled a large plume of smoke before gesturing for his accomplices to move forward and attack. Ruiga plunged his tonfa into the large water globe, shattering it, as all hell broke loose.

"Kill them all."

* * *

><p>Renga dusted his hands off symbolically as his brother rounded the bend, dragging a tightly bound Shikamaru behind him. Dropping the unconscious boy ungraciously onto the ground in front of them, Ruiga planted himself firmly on the bound boy and stretched his legs out idly, "Damn kid was pretty tricky with his traps and all but I didn't even need to bust out any of my ninjutsu to better him. Any trouble with the girl?"<p>

Scratching his brown hair listlessly, the taller of the two almost spat as he turned to his brother with a raised eyebrow, "Not at all. She's a Yamanaka: all they have is their kami-damned clan jutsu but she couldn't even use that well. Missed me completely and left herself vulnerable." Shaking his head disapprovingly, the ice-wielding missing-nin walked over to their calm employer, who was still smoking his tobacco unconcernedly with his foot placed firmly on Tazuna's back.

"Well? What now?"

Taking a particularly large breath through the cigar, Gato through the roll onto the ground and stamped it out with his foot. Kicking apart the small rubble and debris around the greyed bridge-builder, the crime magnate crouched over to the former drunkard's face and spat onto it. "Look how pathetic you are now, sprawled about like this, mister 'Leader of the Wave Underground'. Using kids to protect you. Hah! Pitiful. You have no idea how much you have pissed me off, and you probably never will so I guess there isn't any other point in keeping you alive any longer." Standing back to his unimpressive full height, Gato turned on his heel and scooted towards the now destroyed entrance, barking one last command to the two missing-nin over his shoulder, "Kill him, slowly."

Renga smiled viciously at the order from his employer as he drew his katana from its sheath. Taking his time to clean off his blade of all the grime a dirt accumulated from past events, the beige eyed man sneered at Tazuna before raising his blade above his right shoulder, "It's not every day you get to kill a nation's leader at your own discretion, so don't mind me if I want to enjoy it."

He thrust his blade downwards as Tazuna closed his eyes, embracing his fate. A loud whooshing sound of the blade followed by the noise of it puncturing flesh. And then nothing. 'Is this what it feels like to be dead?' A pained grunt sounded from above the greying man.

Opening his eyes slowly in confusion, Tazuna gasped as he saw Naruto crouching above him with Renga's blade through his right hand and into his shoulder. Rolling out from beneath the blond boy, he watched in amazement as Naruto closed his fist around the missing-nin's handle before kicking out at Renga's chest roughly. Pulling the long sword out of his palm gently, the blond genin inspected his now blood-soaked tan vest quickly before gripping the katana in his hand tightly, pointing at the brown-haired shinobi peeling himself from the wall delicately "Renga from the Land of Vegetables. Former jounin and mastermind of the Land of Vegetables coup d'etat resulting in the death of its daimyo. It is definitely not nice to make your acquaintance."

Arriving moments later, Kakashi analysed the situation with his now exposed Sharingan in a moment before moving to confront the three other armed men. Running through the hand seals for Raikiri (Lightning Cutter), the silver-haired jounin dashed at the nearest foe, looking to end the fight quickly. 'I hope Naruto can hold off the jounin long enough for me to finish up here. Kami knows what Jiraiya might do if he finds out I got his apprentice killed."

Plunging his hand into a heavily tattooed thug, Kakashi ignored a desperate call of 'Waraji' before shrieking in horror as a potential punishment dawned upon him, "What if he bans me from purchasing any of his future copies of Icha Icha?"

Face suddenly darkening, he struck fear into the souls of Zori and Ruiga as his expression turned cold. Pulling out three kunai in each hand, he placed them deftly between his fingers as knuckledusters before settling himself into an aggressive stance silently, 'No, that must never happen. I will have my precious. Even if it costs these two dearly, so be it."

Safe to say, Zori ran away immediately.


End file.
